The Art of Life Drawing
Drawing Naked People Changed How I See Bodies
Once you study all the lines, folds, and bumpy bits, you don’t think of nudity the same way again
I thought we’d draw a vase of flowers or a bowl of fruit, but a naked man wearing glasses met my eyes.
The middle-aged bloke with alabaster skin smiled. I repaid the gesture with a brief upturn of mouth corners.
What was the proper etiquette?
Should I avoid his gaze? What would it say about me if I did? He wasn’t bashful. I, on the other hand, had only seen a couple of men in the buff before. That was, unless you counted the on-screen porn I’d spotted when visiting my older stepbrother.
That evening, I pretended I was cool, as though I’d seen it all before. I did likewise when facing the rotund male figure in the life-drawing room.
As a teen, I was used to the usual guffaws and spluttering of other young folks when nudity arose. But here, in the turpentine-scented studio, a calm hush descended.
The only sounds were of students opening wooden paint boxes to retrieve supplies, the clanking of glass jars as they were filled with water, and the odd whisper of a greeting here and there.
